


Rainbow Connection

by eerian_sadow



Series: Rainbow Connection [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Community: tfanonkink, F/M, Future Fic, Plug and Play Sexual Interfacing, Post-Canon, Spark Sex, adult sari
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2010-01-05
Updated: 2014-07-13
Packaged: 2018-02-08 16:36:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1948320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After sixteen years on Cybertron, Sari is returning to Earth.  Being away for so long is only the first of her complications, because the Decepticon Remnants are up to something...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> written for the kink meme. sixteen years into the TFA future so that, no matter how you look at it, Sari is legal.
> 
> for purposes of this fic:  
> 1 solar cycle is approximately equal to 13 Earth months  
> 1 klik is a unit of time regarding how quickly a processor moves and is not anything close to a second  
> Professor Sumdac was 20 when he found Megatron, making him 70 in series and 86 in this fic. dude's old.
> 
> original kink meme prompt:  
> Upgraded Sari interfaces with Bumblebee Jetfire and Jetstorm.  
> Sari uses her power to read machines to figure out the pleasure points on each mech so she instinctively knows where to touch.

She wondered if her father was still alive. And she felt immediately guilty because she didn’t know. She had never meant to spend fifteen solars on Cybertron with the Autobots, but there had been so much to take care of after Megatron had been put in prison. Time had flown by with no real indication, until she realized that she had been on the planet for almost three Earth years.

No one had answered the comm when she tried to contact Sumdac towers. And not the second time she tried to call. Or the third. Eventually, she just gave up and stopped trying.

If her father wanted to talk to her, he knew Optimus’ comm code.

Today though, more than any day she could remember since she had come to Cybertron, she missed her father. Maybe she should try to call again. Maybe it had been long enough that he wouldn’t be angry at her anymore.

“Sari. Are you all right?” Perceptor’s clipped, electronic voice broke into her thoughts. “Your vital signs indicate distress.”

“I’m okay,” she replied. “Just homesick, I guess.”

The scientist looked at her with an expression that might have been sympathetic on another mech—he was so dispassionate most of the time that she still had trouble reading him, though. “I have concluded the scans I required for our ongoing research into your techno-organic state. Perhaps if you spend some time with your friends you would feel better.”

Sari gave him a half smile, appreciating that he was trying to help even if he lacked the emotional programming to be good at it. “Maybe.”

She hopped down from the medical berth Perceptor had been using to scan her, activating her jetpack before she hit the ground. The scientist gave her a disapproving look, which she ignored, as she walked across the room to the door. None of the science team liked it when she used her jetpack in the labs, but she was so tiny—and they were usually accidentally inconsiderate of her size—that it was really the only way she could safely get around.

Sari turned back as she reached the door. “Hey, Perceptor?”

“Yes?” The red mech looked up from whatever new data his scans might have provided.

“Will it hurt your study if I go back to Earth for a little while? I want to go see my dad.” She needed to go see her dad, she decided. It was long past time to face the music.

Perceptor processed her question for several seconds. “I do not believe there will be a negative impact on our study if you return to Earth for a visit. Further analysis of how your protoform bonded with human DNA seems to depend on your continued maturation, which will be the same on any planet.”

Sari smiled, and this time it was real. “Thanks, Perceptor.”

He nodded and returned to his datapad. She knew she wouldn’t get anything else out of him, so the femme stepped out of the lab. Activating her jetpack, she flew down the hall toward the quarters she had been assigned after Optimus officially became Magnus. She and Ratchet had stayed in Omega Supreme before that, and she still spent most of her rest cycles with the medic and the guardian, but it was nice to have her own space sometimes.

Especially when she had to make—or try to make—a long distance comm call.

The trip to her quarters was longer than she remembered, possibly because Sari kept thinking about her father. He hadn’t seemed angry when she went to help stop Megatron, but not going back to say goodbye before she left for Cybertron must have made him mad enough that he didn’t want to speak to her again. That thought hurt more than a little.

Her comm console’s message light was blinking when she came inside. Sari floated over to it and scrolled through the list, without actually playing any of them. The one from Bumblebee was obvious; he would want to hang out. The one from Arcee was surprising but not entirely unexpected; Ratchet liked to spend time with her but wasn’t always brave enough to call himself—not with as much time as she spent with Perceptor and the rest of the science bots. The message from the twins was also a surprise; they never called her, even if they were planning to hang out with her and Bumblebee. She would play it after she had called home and find out what they wanted.

She might need the pick me up.

With trembling fingers, she punched in the comm code for the receiver in Sumdac Tower. There was a long moment of dead air as the two systems connected and then her viewscreeen lit up with the Sumdac Systems logo. Sari bit her lip in nervousness as she waited to see if someone—anyone, even if it wasn’t her dad—would answer. She felt her stomach sink to the floor when the screen didn’t change to a view of someone’s face within a few seconds.

No one was answering. Again.

She was reaching for the cutoff switch when she heard a click and her father’s voice—so much older sounding than she remembered, but still him—came over the speakers. Sari felt her excitement rising as she listened.

_Thank you for calling Sumdac Systems. Isaac Sumdac is not available to take your call, but if you will leave a message, I will get back to you as soon as possible._

It wasn’t much, but an answering machine was more than there had been before. She wiped tears from her cheeks as she replied. “Hi, dad. It’s me, Sari. I’m sorry I left you hanging like I did. I miss you. Can I… can I come home, daddy? I miss you so much. I love you.”

Sari cut off the transmission before bursting into full fledged sobbing.  


please clicky!  
[](http://dragcave.net/view/uPTQ) [](http://dragcave.net/view/clDM) [](http://dragcave.net/view/YRdk) [](http://dragcave.net/view/t6Ta) [](http://dragcave.net/view/0M2F) [](http://dragcave.net/view/3X0K) [](http://dragcave.net/view/nepr)[](http://dragcave.net/view/GRFR)


	2. Chapter 2

“Sari! You are here!” Jetfire grinned hugely and pulled her out of the air and hugged her against his chest plates. “Brother was saying that you weren’t to be coming!”

“No to be,” she corrected automatically. Even after fifteen solars, their regional dialect still overrode her lessons in the English language, but she kept trying. “And you guys kind of sprung this party on me out of nowhere. I wasn’t even sure I was up to it until a little while ago.”

The flier looked her over a little more carefully. “What is be— What is wrong?”

Despite herself, Sari smiled at how he corrected himself for her benefit. The twins were very sweet, when given the chance to be. “It’s nothing.”

“It is not being nothing,” Jetfire said firmly. “It is making you cry.”

“What’s making Sari cry?” Bumblebee draped himself over the orange twin’s shoulder and looked at her in concern.

“It’s nothing I want to ruin the party with,” the hybrid said. “I’m just down, okay?”

“You tried to call your dad again, didn’t you?” Sari tried not to scream at her friend in frustration, but Bumblebee could be as insensitive as the twins could be sweet. “Why do you still bother?”

“Because he’s my dad and I love him!” She shouted. Then, before she could hope to get herself under control, she burst into tears again. “I miss him so much and I just want to go home.”

Jetfire held her closer to his chest plates and rumbled his engines comfortingly. It didn’t have the same effect on her as it would a normal Cybertronian, but she appreciated the effort for what it was. 

A moment later, Bumblebee’s fingers brushed over the top of her head. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to be an aft.”

“I know,” she managed to choke out between sobs. 

“I’ll just go.” Bee’s fingers left her hair and she heard him walking away slowly.

Jetfire sighed, something he had picked up from her a long time ago. “Sometimes I am thinking that it would be good for us to do the crying thing too.”

Sari just nodded, too unsure of her ability to speak to say anything.

After a long moment, the flier stepped into the hallway. The door slid shut behind him, cutting off the noise from the party and drawing the hybrid’s attention.

“What are you doing?” Her voice hitched on every word.

“You are not wanting to be at the party. And now I am not wanting to party either.” He hugged her again. “I will take you to Ratchet and you can be getting some recharge.”

“Okay.” Jetfire was right; she didn’t want to be at the party. And being with Ratchet and Omega Supreme—and their acceptance of her need _not to talk about it_ —sounded nice right now. 

As they walked, she was grateful for the fact that the orange twin seemed to understand, too. It was easier to calm down when no one was asking questions or pushing her to talk.

“Thanks,” she said softly when they arrived at Omega’s docking bay. “I’m sorry I ruined the party for you.”

He looked down and gave her a grin that almost looked real. “Is nothing. Brother was enjoying party enough for two.”

Sari didn’t doubt that. “Still, thanks. You didn’t have to bring me all the way down here.”

“Friends are to be taking care of each other,” Jetfire replied.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes again at his words. “Right. You wanna come in? I mean, if Omega says it’s okay?”

The flier’s expression clearly said that he had been hoping she would ask. “I would like that very much. It is very boring to sit around waiting for Brother to finish using our quarters.”

“I know what you mean.” She activated her jetpack and flew over to the control pad next to the umbilical tunnel that connected Omega Supreme to the rest of the city. She pressed the comm button and waited for the guardian to respond.

 _Good evening, Sari,_ Omega said after a moment. _You seem to have brought a guest._

“Actually, Jetfire brought me home. Do you mind if he stays for a while?”

 _Not at all._ The airlock at the end of the umbilical cycled open. _Welcome home._

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

For once, Sari was glad to have missed out on one of the twins’ impromptu parties; she was having much more fun where she was now. She couldn’t remember laughing so hard since sometime before her upgrade, and she was grateful to Jetfire and, surprisingly, Omega Supreme for helping her do it. She felt better tonight than she had in years.

“Aren’t you a little old for these slumber party things?” Ratchet asked with a small smile as he stuck his head into her sleeping compartment to check on them.

“Like you have any room to talk, Mister Don’t-knock-on-my-door-Arcee’s-staying-over-tonight!” The hybrid replied with a giggle. 

“We are not too old, Ratchet,” Omega added. “We have been having a very good time.”

The medic shook his head at them, though his smile didn’t waver. “You’re all a bunch of malfunctions.”

Sari jetted off her bed and over to the old mech. With a grin, she kissed him lightly on the cheek. “We love you too, Doc Bot.”

Ratchet swatted at her playfully and she dodged with a giggle. “I came to tell you that your comm system forwarded a message here a little while ago, not get dragged into this silly party of yours. It’s bad enough that you’ve got Omega so distracted he’s not minding his consoles.”

“A message?” She landed on the hand he held out for her. “From who?”

“I don’t know; I didn’t play it back. I thought you should see it first.”

“That’s weird. Everyone who would message me is either here or at the party.” Sari twisted a finger in her hair thoughtfully. “Well, everyone but Optimus and my dad.”

A collective silence fell in the room at her words. They all knew about the lack of communication from Earth. She heard Jetfire get off her berth, and a moment later, he was touching her back comfortingly.

“If the message is being from your father, we will be here for you. No matter what.”

Sari turned to give him a weak smile. “Thanks.”

“I have your message, Sari,” Omega interrupted softly. “Do you want to hear it?”

The hybrid reached out and rested a hand on Jetfire’s finger. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

There was a brief moment of silence and then the recording started to play.

 _Oh,_ Sari _. I am so happy to hear your voice._ She winced at how very, very old her father sounded. _I am so sorry that I didn’t install the message recorder sooner; there has been a small dispute about allowing the space bridge and the comm system to remain on top of the tower and I have been fighting with so many people about it. It has been diffi—_

The human’s voice dissolved into something that sounded very much like sobbing for a moment. _It was like a miracle when I heard your voice today. I miss you too. Please, please come home, Sari. I love you, my daughter._

Sari started crying again, but this time—for the first time she could remember—they were tears of joy. “He isn’t mad! He wants me to come home!”


	3. Rainbow Connection 3

Sari had been so relieved that she’d dropped off to sleep almost as soon as she stopped crying. She had a vague impression of Jetfire carrying her over to the Cybertronian sized berth and laying down with her clutched to his chest plates, but she didn’t remember Ratchet leaving or hearing Omega say goodnight the way he did every night.

She woke slowly, feeling more recharged than she had for a long time. The hybrid was also warm, though she wasn’t curled up in her blanket like normal. She opened her eyes, and then smiled as she took in the expanse of Jetfire’s yellow cockpit canopy and silver chest plates.

“Thanks for staying,” she said softly.

“It is the whole point of slumber party, yes?” Jetfire replied. “Besides, I told you that friends are taking care of each other.”

“I remembered.” Sari turned her head slightly and kissed his cockpit canopy. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome.” He lifted a hand and ran a finger over Sari’s back. “I am wondering something.”

“Hmm?” She snuggled against him more comfortable.

“Are you thinking that you will be getting any bigger? For a human you are being very tall, but for a Cybertronian you are being very small.”

“Perceptor says I might, but I’ll probably never be bigger than those little bots that help in communications.” she replied, moving her head so that she could look up at him. “Why?”

He glanced away from her, suddenly shy. “Is embarrassing.”

“Oh come on! I tell you embarrassing things all the time.”

Jetfire hesitated before speaking. “Brotherandiarewantingtointerfacewithyou.”

Sari blinked at the rush of words. Then she sat up so that she could see his face better. “Say what?”

The flier covered his optics with one hand, trying to hide his embarrassment. “We are wanting to interface with you.”

“What makes you think I can’t?” She asked.

He lifted his hand, raised his head and looked at her in shock. “But you are so tiny!”

“Hasn’t stopped Bumblebee.”

Jetfire’s mouth dropped open.

Sari giggled. “Did you really think he wouldn’t try as soon as I was old enough?”

“I am supposing not.” The orange twin laid his head back down on the berth. “Are you and Bumblebee…?”

“Together?” The hybrid shook her head. “We’re more like friends with benefits.”

Jetfire seemed relieved. “Would you then? Brother and I would like it very much.”

“Not together,” she replied. “I don’t know if you guys even have incest, but that just freaks me out.”

“That is fine.” The flier grinned at her. “I do not like sharing everything with Brother.”

She grinned back. “Cool.”

He was reaching for her—likely with the intent to give her more than just a friendly touch—when Omega Supreme interrupted them. “Jetfire, your brother wishes to know if you are here.”

Jetfire dropped his head to the berth with a clang. “Ah, we must be reporting for duty. I am forgetting.”

“It’s okay,” Sari told him. “We’ve got time.”

“Do we?” He asked.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

She jetted down the hall toward Optimus’ office with nervousness twisting in her stomach. Perceptor swore that she didn’t really have a stomach—it was just a modified fuel tank—and that she shouldn’t have such a reaction to being nervous, but she did. She could almost feel the extra digestive acid being secreted at her fear. It was almost laughable that she was nervous about going and seeing the Magnus when she was in his office almost every day, but he had the ability to make or break her trip to Earth.

And she was honestly terrified he would say she couldn’t go.

It would be heartbreaking if she had finally gotten up the courage to call her father again and be told that it was okay to come home, only to have permission denied by her old friend. But there were still cells of Decepticons waging war against them, and it wasn’t always safe to travel. It might not be as easy as she had dreamed the night before.

She was repeating her fears for the third or fourth time when she finally arrived at his office door. It was imposing when it was closed—tall enough to have admitted Ultra Magnus with space to spare before the top of the frame—and she hesitated before pressing the chime, even though she’d done it a thousand times before.

“Enter.” She didn’t miss how tired Optimus’ voice sounded. He must have been having a worse week than any of them realized.

“Hey, Boss Bot,” she said with a small smile. “You got a minute?”

“Sari.” He looked relieved when she spoke. “For you, I can have an entire hour.”

“Bad day, huh?” She jetted up onto his desk and sat down in front of him.

“Not the worst ever, but yeah.” Optimus sighed, an expression he had picked up on Earth and never managed to get rid of. “The Decepticons are moving in several sectors again, and they’ve cut of some major trade routes. Some of our new allies are blaming their shortages on me and not General Strika.”

Sari didn’t really want to know—and didn’t want to burden Optimus with the idea—but she had to ask. “They aren’t moving near Earth, are they?”

“Not yet, but it’s only a matter of time.” The Magnus scrubbed his face in a gesture of frustration. “There’s got to be someone among Strika’s troops who is smart enough to figure out that there are still Allspark shards on Earth. Not to mention the Dinobots, Wreck-Gar and the Constructicons.”

“And Blackarachnia and Wasp,” the hybrid added. “Maybe you should send a team out there, then. You know, to keep an eye on the place.”

It wasn’t really how she’d meant to ask, but she wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity to ask without actually asking.

“And send you with them so that you can see your father? Don’t think I haven’t thought about it.” He gave her a small smile. “I don’t even know who I’d send.”

“So is that a yes, then? Because I really would like to go home.” She sighed. “Even if it’s just for a little while.”

“Sari, it was never my intention to keep you away for so long.” Optimus reached out and put a finger on her back comfortingly. “All you had to do was say that you wanted to go home.”

“So you won’t be mad if I ask to hijack the space bridge to go back to Earth?” Sari felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she knew that Optimus wouldn’t think less of her for crying in front of him. “Because I finally got a message from my Dad last night and he wants me to come home.”

This time the Magnus’ smile was much more genuine. “You heard from your father? That’s wonderful news. How is he?”

“I don’t know.” The words hurt as she said them. The guilt that she’d been feeling for the last fifteen solars flared up again and tears welled up in her eyes. “I didn’t really talk to him. We just left messages on each other’s answering machines. I miss him so much.”

“Hey, don’t cry.” Optimus’ voice was gentle. “You’ll get to see him soon.”

“But what if I don’t, Optimus? He’s old. I mean _really_ old and Humans die of old age. He might be… he might be gone tomorrow. Or today, even. And I wouldn’t know.” Now the hybrid did break down crying, leaning against the mech’s hand for support.

Optimus held her until she quieted. “I’ll authorize the use of the space bridge, Sari. But I’m sending a defense team back with you. The Decepticons won’t leave Earth alone forever.”

“Thank you.” Sari hoped he understood how sincerely she meant that.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

The hybrid ignored the sound of her door opening as she read. Only one other bot had her lock code, and she had been expecting him for a while now.

“Hey, I’m sorry about how I acted last night.” Sari looked up at Bumblebee’s voice, but she didn’t say anything. The yellow mech stared back at her for a moment before he continued speaking. “I just… I don’t like seeing you upset like that. And I wasn’t really mad at you, it just seemed like you were bringing it on yourself and I don’t know how to deal with that. And sometimes my vocalizer gets ahead of my processor and I say things that I don’t really mean. So I’m sorry I was an aft. Please don’t stay mad at me?”

“Bumblebee, it’s okay.” She finally graced him with a smile.

“You’re not mad?”

“Do you want me to be? Because I can be.” Sari’s smile turned into a mischievous grin.

“No!” He replied with a grin of his own. “No need to put yourself out on my account.”

“Well good. Because I hate being mad at my best friend.”

Bumblebee sat down in the Cybertronian sized chair at her desk, playful expression gone. “I hate thinking that you are mad at me. I felt terrible when I realized you hadn’t stayed after all.”

“I just couldn’t.” She stood up from the tiny, more functional desk Ratchet had made for her and jetted up to his level. “I was just trying to distract myself and then you brought it up again and…”

“I know.” He sighed. “So, I heard you left with Jetfire last night. Anything happen that I need to know about?”

“Well…” Sari drug the word out in a sing-song tone.

“Yeah?” The yellow mech asked eagerly.

They hybrid couldn’t help herself; she giggled. “Nothing happened. We just had a slumber party with Omega. And I got a message from my dad.”

“You did? Sari, that’s great!” Bumblebee snatched her out of the air and spun around with her in excitement. “What did it say? How is he?”

“He wants me to come home,” She replied. “Optimus has already said he’ll authorize use of the space bridge and everything.”

“So he’s not mad?”

“No, I don’t think so.” She paused. “I hope not.”

“Good. Life’s too short for that.” He gave her a bright smile, trying to keep her mood from falling. “So, you want to celebrate?”

“We can’t have a party just for that. And we just had one last night, even if I wasn’t there.”

“That’s _not_ what I meant.” His smile turned a bit lecherous.

“Gah! Bumblebee, you are such a perv!” Sari play-swatted at his thumb.

“Hey! I don’t perv over any bot but you.” The yellow mech rubbed the thumb she had just swatted suggestively over her chest plates. “So, do you want to?”

Sari sagged against his hands, unsure. She was mentally exhausted from the range of emotions she’d been feeling over the last few days. Bumblebee was a considerate lover, but she wasn’t sure that she was up to all the effort that interfacing required because of their size differences.

“It doesn’t have to be all out,” the yellow mech said. “I like having your hands all over, but we don’t have to. I just want to make you feel better.”

The hybrid leaned against his fingers, letting him rub his thumb along the seam in her chest plates that lay over her spark. It was a sensitive part of her anatomy, and the mech had a tendency to take advantage of that fact. And Bumblebee just wanted a straight up interface, not all the foreplay leading to it.

Sari opened her chest plates, revealing her spark and her interface equipment. “Okay.”

“Awesome.” Bumblebee carefully brushed his thumb over her spark and shivered as energy crackled over the tip. “I love how it feels when I do that.”

The hybrid let out a shuddery breath. Having him touch her spark like that was like being electrocuted—only good. “I love it too.”

Quickly, he crossed the room and eased down into the Cybertronian-sized recharge berth. When he was settled, he opened his own chest plates and drew Sari close to his spark. When she was close enough, the hybrid stepped of his hands and stood carefully on his spark casing.

It amazed her that he trusted her so much. “You ready?”

“Oh yeah.”

Carefully, she knelt on his spark chamber, knowing that he liked the feeling of her moving around on it but not willing to hurt him. She ran practiced fingers through his spark matter, drawing a strangled, pleased cry from him.

“Do that again,” he gasped as his cooling fans switched on.

Sari did, running her fingers through his spark matter the way she had dug furrows in her sandbox as a child. And then, for good measure, she did it again.

“Sari…” Bumblebee moaned.

While the yellow mech was reeling from the stimulation, she drew away from his spark. With careful fingers, she pulled her interface cable out of the housing next to her spark and lined it up with the input jack next to Bumblebee’s spark. The end of the cable transformed and expanded—the way her key always had—to fit into the jack and she plugged it in.

They both sighed as the cable clicked into the jack. Then, before she could do anything more than begin to gather data to transmit across their link, Bumblebee flooded her with warmth and affection. He really had wanted to make her feel better, and she allowed herself to bask in the feelings for several moments.

“Sari, I love you,” the yellow mech said suddenly. “Not like that, I mean, not like bonding. But like—“

“I know,” she replied. “I love you too.”

The hybrid sent a data packet across the link containing all her feelings for her friend. Bumblebee vented sharply at the sensation and sent a data packet back. Sari felt her breathing pick up at the more raw emotions and data contained in it. Without missing a beat, she sent another data packet and dug her hands back into his spark.

“Ah, Sari!” Bumblebee arched off the berth, causing her to lose her balance and shift more of herself into his spark. He gave another strangled groan at the feeling, transmitting nothing but pure pleasure over their link, and overloaded.

Sari gasped and pulled her arms back quickly before her own overload caused her to topple into his spark.

After they came back down from the euphoria, she lay panting next to his input jack. “Don’t think you’ve ever done that before.”

“Slag, that was embarrassing. I’ve never overloaded that fast.” The yellow mech sounded mortified.

“Or I’m just that good,” Sari giggled.

Despite himself, Bumblebee laughed too. “You know, we could always go again.”

She shook her head, feeling her earlier tiredness seeping back in. “I can’t. I’m beat.”

“That’s okay. We can just lay here and you can get some sleep.”

“Sure.” The hybrid reached over and unplugged her uplink cable tiredly. “I’d like that.”

Bumblebee picked her up after the cable was unplugged. After he closed his chest plates, he laid her back down on them. “Want your blanket?”

“I left it with Omega,” she said around a yawn. “You’ll be warm enough.”

Just as she was drifting off to sleep, her comm station beeped. She glared at it with bleary eyes, but it simply beeped again. With an aggravated huff, she jetted off Bumblebee’s chest and across the room.

“What?” she snapped as she accepted the call.

 _“My office in ten breems,”_ Optimus replied, sounding just as grumpy and tired. _“And bring Bumblebee with you.”_

“How does he always know when I’m here?” The yellow mech asked.

“Better question,” she replied petulantly. “Why does he always interrupt when I’m trying to take a nap?”  



	4. Rainbow Connection 4

Evening rations the night before had been awkward, with no one knowing what was safe to talk about and what would upset Arcee or Ratchet. No one on the Earth team wanted to split them up while Ratchet and Jazz brought Omega Supreme to Earth; it seemed unspeakably cruel when they had already been separated for so very long after the war.

And yet, the two of them were standing at the control panel of the space bridge smiling at each other like they were just going off to their duty shifts for the day. Sari thought it might have been the sweetest thing she’d ever seen.

“Be sure to remember to report in while you’re in transit,” Arcee said, laying a gentle hand on his chest plates. “You know I’ll worry until you get there.”

Ratchet gave her a smile, then bent down to give her a kiss. “I’ll call as often as it’s safe. You sure you can handle those hooligans until I get there?”

“I’m sure they’ll be just fine. I’m more worried about running into Decepticons than keeping the Twins and Bumblebee in line.” She sighed. “I’ll miss you.”

“It’s only for an Earth month,” Ratchet assured her. “You won’t even know I’m gone.”

“Still.” She stretched up to give the medic another kiss. “An Earth month is still a long enough time. I am going to miss you. And Omega.”

“I promise to come back to you safely. You take care of yourself until we get there.” He cupped the femme’s cheek plate comfortingly. “I love you.”

Arcee smiled and laid her hand over his. “I love you too. I’ll see you soon.”

“See you soon,” Ratchet replied. Slowly, he stepped away from the team leader and approached Sari. “I’m counting on you to keep them in line.”

“You bet, Doc Bot,” the techno-organic replied. “You take care of Jazz and Omega.”

“You bet, kid.” He gave her a smile. “See you soon, Sari.”

“See you, Ratchet.”

Ratchet gave both femmes another smile and turned to board Omega Supreme.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“I miss them already,” Sari said quietly. “It’s gonna be weird sleeping somewhere else tonight.”

Arcee nodded absently as she checked her gear for the fifth time since they had arrived at the space bridge. “We’ll be fine. Earth is your home, after all.”

“Yeah, but sixteen years is a long time for Earth. It won’t be the same at all.” The techno-organic sighed. “Where is everybody? We were supposed to leave ten minutes ago.”

Arcee made a displeased noise as she checked her chronometer. Sari was right; the others were late. She opened her mouth to comment on their tardiness, just as the twins skidded into the room, followed by Bumblebee. They gave her matching apologetic smiles.

“We are sorry we are to being late,” Jetstorm said.

“Brother and Bumblebee were having late night rendezvous,” Jetfire added helpfully.

Bumblebee looked at the ground in embarrassment.

Sari covered her eyes with one hand. “More information than we needed, guys.”

“And not a legitimate excuse for your lateness.” Arcee frowned. “Things like this reflect poorly on the whole team, not just the three of you. What were you thinking?”

“Uh… It seemed like a good idea at the time?” Bumblebee offered.

Arcee frowned. “That is also not a valid excuse. I expected better from all of you.”

Sari almost felt bad for them. Arcee was always so sweet and caring—and had been like a mom for all of them since they had come back to Cybertron—so disappointing her felt a lot like punching a baby.

“We are sorry,” Jetfire said softly.

“It will not to be happening again,” Jetstorm added.

“Yeah, it wasn’t like we mean to be up all night—“

“Enough.” Arcee cut Bumblebee off without any preamble. “I don’t want to hear excuses. Let’s just go, before Optimus finds out.”

Sari picked up her small bag of belongings—not much to take back at all, since Cybertron didn’t exactly have a lot of Human sized things—and turned toward the space bridge. “Right. Let’s go home.”


End file.
